int. and sb.; also 4–5 bendicite, benste. [L.; 2nd pl. imper. of benedīcĕre ‘to praise, commend,’ later ‘to bless, wish well to,’ f. bene well + dīcĕre to speak, say. In early use shortened to bendicite, benste.]
A. interj.
1. as expressing a wish: Bless you!
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 397. He bygan benedicite with a bolke.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 48. Benedicite, My sone … Thou shalt be shrive of bothe two.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iii. 39. Grace goe with you, Benedicite.
2. as expressing astonishment or remonstrance: Bless us! Good gracious!
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 780. What? liveth not thy lady, benedicite? Ibid. (c. 1386), Freres T., 156. A! quod the sompnour, benedicite! what ye say.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace, 647. Sir Amadas seyd Benedicite! Sir, leyt such wordes bee.
B. sb.
1. Invocation of a blessing on oneself or others.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict., in Farr, S. P. (1848), 55. And all the way he went he ever blest With benedicities.
1808. Scott, Marm., II. ii. One eyed the … swelling sail, With many a benedicite. Ibid. (1823), Quentin D., ii. The friar answered his reverend greeting with a paternal benedicite.
2. esp. The blessing asked at table. (The earliest sense in English.)
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 44. Bitweone mete, hwo se drinken wule, sigge benedicite: potum nostrum filius Dei benedicat.
1725. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist., I. v. 208. The first [prayer] at the Beginning of the Repast … what we call Benedicite.
1842. Mrs. Gore, Fascination, I. 145. We may repent having laughed at the Benedicite last night at supper!
† 3. A blessing, deliverance from evil. Obs.
a. 1300. Dame Siriz, 193. Bendicite be herinne!
c. 1314. Guy Warw., 206. Gaf him swiche bendicite That he brak his nek ato.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 85. Benste, benste, be us emang.
4. The canticle in the Book of Common Prayer, known also as ‘The Song of the Three Children.’
c. 1661. Papers on Alter. Prayer-bk., 3. You will not allow the omission of the Benedicite.
